Google Issues New Mobile Speed Guidelines, Updates PageSpeed Insights Tool

If you have websites that are getting more mobile traffic, yet are either slow to load or not properly optimized, Google is issuing new guidelines to help ensure those sites are loading quickly and optimally for people using smartphones.

Google shares that research shows that if the page takes longer than one second to load, a visitor’s flow is interrupted. Yet the average mobile site takes seven seconds to load. Google has created some steps webmasters can follow to ensure their mobile traffic is being served well.

First, there is the updated Google PageSpeed Insights tool. Enter your URL, and it will analyze how well the pages loading for both mobile and desktop users. It even has an image showing how your website renders in a mobile phone:

When you click on the desktop tab, it shows suggestions for your site as it displays to non-smartphone users, as well as showing how it renders in a typical laptop computer screen.

Each tab also gives suggestions on how you can optimize your page for faster loading on both mobile and non-mobile sites, and gives information about each suggestion so you can understand and implement it easier.

Each suggestion Google gives is also prioritized by importance, so if there are multiple things that should be corrected, it’s easy for you decide what is the most important and should be addressed first.

• Server must render the response (< 200 ms)
• Number of redirects should be minimized
• Number of roundtrips to first render should be minimized
• Avoid external blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold content
• Reserve time for browser layout and rendering (200 ms)
• Optimize JavaScript execution and rendering time

Google is also suggesting that all webmasters should prioritize the content that displays above the fold, to make it easier for users to find exactly what they’re looking for.

They have also released further help guides for webmasters doing mobile analysis of their websites.